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City of Oshawa Website Wins Gold

Oshawa has received a gold Hermes Creative Award in the government website category for the redevelopment of the City's new website that launched May 2015. The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition that recognizes outstanding work of creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional and emerging media.

Input from residents, business leaders and community partners was integral in shaping the City website's design, organization of information and top priorities for web content. Focus groups also took place throughout the process to gather information on how website users navigate through the website to find key information. Since the launch of the site in May 2015, the community has provided over 100 comments on how to further improve the website. In addition, over 100 photos were received through the Call for Photos with select photos appearing in the online photo gallery. The photos paint a picture of our amazing city and celebrate Oshawa's hidden treasures and unique places.

"The City's website was truly a very successful collaborative project. Input from City staff, residents, business leaders and community partners helped shape the new website's design, organization of information and top priorities for web content," said Councillor Amy England, Chair of the Corporate Services Committee. "We would like to extend a huge thank you to those who have shared their comments so far. We look forward to continued feedback to strengthen the City's online presence and meet the needs of our community."

The City's website is accessible and mobile friendly, meaning that the site will resize accordingly to the device being used. The majority of the City's website content was rewritten and reorganized to make it easier to find information. Additional website features include:

Prominent search function

Homepage pop-up menus

Business & Investment section

Parks & Facility look-up tool

Directory of local businesses and organizations

Bids & Tenders

Events & Meetings Calendar

Additionally, all these features and more are captured in a video, which was created to provide residents with a visual tour of the website. The video is available on the "OshawaCity" YouTube channel.

The City would like to continue an open dialogue with residents. Users can easily connect with the City through social media and online chat directly from the top of each webpage. On the bottom of every webpage is contact information for Service Oshawa, as well as a Feedback Form for users to provide comments to help improve the City's website www.oshawa.ca.

The Hermes Creative Awards 2016 competition received approximately 6,000 entries submitted from companies and organizations worldwide. The winners were selected from 195 categories. For a list of the 2016 winners, visit www.hermesawards.com.

The Hermes Creative Awards are administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). AMCP judges are industry professionals who look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry. The name Hermes (Greek messenger) chosen to represent the role as the messengers and creators of marketing and communication materials and programs. To learn more, visit www.amcpros.com.